1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to labels for containers, and methods for producing and applying such labels, was well as equipment used therefor. More particularly, the invention relates to container labels, especially bottle labels, provided with a tear-off part and intended primarily for the beverage industry.
2. Background Art
So-called “backside label” promotions and games have been used regularly for many years by soft drinks manufacturers and bottlers. For such promotions, the back of a bottle label is utilized as a coupon used for redemption or gaming. This requires a full wrap around label to be completely removed to allow the coupon to be used. Recent redemption legislation in various states of the United States and elsewhere now prevents the removal of a label from a bottle since the universal product code (UPC) and other special bottle redemption information provided on the label must remain on the container for the refund and recycling process. This has caused soft drink manufacturers to stop using backside label promotions and to use “under the cap” (UTC) promotions instead. UTC limits the promotional gaming opportunities by limiting the area available for messages and also adds more cost and logistic problems than backside label promotions since the bottler has to match label inventory to cap inventory, which always results in added spoilage of labels or caps. Tampering with packages with removable coupons has also been a serious problem in the market place.
It is known to provide labels for containers with detachable parts that allow part of the label to be detached while leaving the remainder of a label firmly fixed to the container. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,093 which issued to William Weernink on Aug. 30, 1994, discloses an elongate strip label for wrapping around a pharmaceutical container with an overlap portion. The overlap portion of the label is secured with a transparent release coating. The overlap portion may be peeled away to expose information below.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,523, which issued to Russell Haines on Jan. 26, 1982, discloses a label for a pharmaceutical container in the form of an elongated strip. The strip is longer than the container with which it is used so that there is an overlap. This addresses the problem caused by the reduction in container size for pharmaceuticals as well as the need for more product information.
Unfortunately, when providing labels with detachable parts, it is all too easy for dishonest or careless consumers to remove the label parts inappropriately, for example from products stored on supermarket shelves without any intent to purchase.